This is exactly why the rest of the country hates Boston. The general veil of 'doings things your own way' that masks what is really just 'being self-centred assholes'.
Alt. Focus: Hartford, CT I was once punched in the head by a random passerby as I was driving my car one night while leaving Hartford. They really know how to say goodbye in a way that makes you want to come back. The people generally suck, and the people that are proud of Hartford suck with such great force that Dyson has stolen some of them to design the next over-priced vacuum cleaner. I believe the working name of the project is simply called, "Asshole." The city itself is hilariously stupid. They'd like to think that there's something going on there, but it's a vapid, sad little place that looks like someone came in with good intentions but decided to get drunk halfway through and just gave up. It had a professional hockey team, but they left long ago and no team in their right mind would ever fill their spot. Crime is high for such a small city and every time I've gone there I've been surprised by the number of homeless and beggars. The fringe cities like West Hartford are actually much, much better. Parts of West Hartford have actually won awards for city planning and you can walk around there completely at ease and unstabbed. But once you venture into what some retards call "The Hartbeat"--may they be beaten with sticks in front of their children--the whole scene changes and is replaced with an unimpressive gathering of buildings that do nothing to cover up the fact that Hartford has nothing good to offer anyone.
Focus: Parents bragging about their kids' mundane accomplishments. Look, I understand that when little Jimmy makes the honor roll your pride swells and you feel compelled to let the world know. Annoying, yes, but at least there's some work and effort involved in that. But for fuck's sake if you feel the need to crow to the world that little Sally has learned how to walk you need to re-evaluate your perspective because unless you smoked so much crack during your pregnancy that Sally learning how to walk really is an achievement, fucking learning how to walk is a pretty instinctual human impulse that every toddler figures out. In fact her not learning how to walk would probably be a sign of mental retardation.
The underground band fan, loyal sports fan- Listen asshat, you didn't do ANYTHING. Take pride in something YOU accomplish, then celebrate. If your trash talking is 100 percent serious, you need a new hobby
Wait, wait, wait. There are people who are actually PROUD of Hartford? This is without question the worst city I have lived in, been to or heard of. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about it, it needs to be burned to the ground and started over. The only people I know who even try to defend it a little have never lived in another state and rarely leave the area thus having no frame of reference. Sounds about right I love every politician who says "we're gonna clean up Hartford." When I first moved here I thought they were serious, then was informed they've been saying it for years. See my first paragraph on advice on how to really "clean it up." Getting over to West Hartford is like entering a different country, it holds almost no resemblance to Hartford itself. They really need to change the name because I openly laughed in everyone's face when they told me I needed to check out the West Hartford shops and restaurants when I moved down here. It's fucking gorgeous though, perhaps a bit overpriced, but it's a really nice area and has no business being associated with the shit storm that is regular Hartford or perhaps even worse, East Hartford, which is basically regular Hartford with even less to do. Along this line the guy who "found the band before they were famous" these people bother me more than anything, it's like you owe them some sort of gratitude every single fucking time you hear a song from a band they liked before they were famous. Seriously dude, get over it. Unless you signed them to the record deal you didn't "find" them before everyone else, you just happened to hear some of their music before they got played on the radio.
So then what are these unwritten rules? Let us know! There are traffic laws for a reason. There is a reason why you have to take a test proving that you are familiar with these laws before you can legally drive. The reason is because you can kill someone if you don't. Any person, place, organization, etc. that has "unwritten rules" that they expect everyone else to follow can suck a dick.
Detroit anyone? Detroit has one of the highest vacancy rates out of any city in the US. Some very beautiful buildings falling into such disrepair that they cannot be saved. City has a history of crooked politicians. The former mayor is back in jail, again. The only redeeming quality of this pit of a city is Lafayette Coney Island.
No shit, this is a conversation that took place between my Latvian-born roommate and a random guy on the subway. Random: Hey, did I hear you say that you were Latvian? Roommate: Yeah, I was born there. Random: Where are you from? Roommate: Riga. Random: Me too. Roommate: How is it? I haven't been there in a while. Random: Ah, it sucks now. It's all full of foreigners. Roommate: Yeah, the stupid E.U. Irony at its finest.
Alt-Focus Detroit IS the shittiest city in America. In the mid 80's, Detroit had the 4th largest city population in America. Now it has around one million people. The crime and housing crash has devestated the metro area beyond repair, and full houses with yards now sell for as low as $12,000 in entirely deserted neighbourhoods. Don't worry, though. IT's STILL filled with the kind of murderous lowlives that would steal the pennies off a dead woman's eyes. There are still red lights you DO NOT STOP AT in certain parts of Detroit.
I am not a fan of people that have their faith as a source of pride. I'm sure some can back me up with examples of people that just love to tell the masses about Gawd and how their faith is going to get them behind the pearly gates of Heaven. A city that has 9 months of gray weather and passive aggressive assholes that won't even say thank you when the hold the door...show me Seattle!
Harley owners who not only buy a Harley but slap Harley stickers all over their vehicles (if they didn't buy the Harley F-150) and wear what seems to be the entire Harley Davidson clothing line.
Pakistan: Ignoring the fact that Pakistan is the only nation on Earth that was founded on religious differences with its legitimately sovereign neighbor, it still has nothing to be proud of while laying claim to a segment of geography that is so scary-dangerous that an entire army armed by the US and given carte blanche (apparently) by the global community of nations is afraid to enter it without a force with the intent and capability to kill everything remotely human within it borders. The NWFP is more than happy to host both the Taliban and the remnants of al-Qaida, including Osama bin Laden. And yet Islamabad, despite losing a whole province to said scum, apparently is still willing to provide aid and comfort (in the form of cold hard cash) to the lowest asswipes in 400 years for backwards religious reasons. I said in the old board that Pakistan is immensely proud of having absolutely nothing to be proud of. And OBL lives there. I'll put that above the worst neighborhood in Compton, Columbus or Detroit. Nobody who lives there has wiped out two skyscrapers full of people because their god told them he didn't like foreign troops in a place where they were no longer welcome. That's a special kind of bottom-of-the-barrel.
Fucking couture or luxury items. No one gives a shit your watch, purse, car, etc cost 3-4x more than the the standard item with similar quality. In fact, it's a testament to your stupidity in thinking that extra money is being used to buy "respect".
2nd and 3rd Generation immigrants who take excessive pride in their ancestors. It was touched on before but I really laugh at whoever has an Italia flag or whatever on their car when they are clearly North American. It's like that episode of the Sopranos where they all go to Naples (another shitty city for the list) and the Jersey boys are totally out of place and act like buffoons. Especially when it comes to sport teams. I went to Catholic school so all my classmates were either white/Irish middle-class or Italian upper-middle class. The Irish boys, with whom I grew up, were Canadian through and through and loved Hockey, Football, Rugby and beer. The Italians are scummy lowlifes who played soccer exclusively, went clubbing at age 17 and did not shut the fuck up when Italy won the world cup in 06. Oh and when the Montreal Canadiens are doing well, guess which ethnic group is the one that clogs up the streets rioting and breaking shit? Not the Canadians.
And the other behaviours these people exhibit: wow, you can bypass the line at a club because you have boobs and get free drinks because you know the people organizing the party? Well, congratulations on floating to the top of that toilet bowl. Pardon me while I spend less than three figures on a bottle of vodka.
Gary Indiana is a horrible city. I went there once, after missing an exit on my way too Ann Arbor. I have lived around Joliet Illinois my whole life, and I can say, without doubt, that the worst neighborhoods in Joliet have got absolutely nothing on Gary. I recall seing "WE ACCEPT FOOD STAMPS" spray painted in large letters on a convenience store.
You beat me to it. This drives me absolutlely insane. My first year of college I met a guy who claimed he was German rather than American. He was babbling about their supeior culture and the pride he took in his heritage. After a bit of probing I found out he had never been to the country, neither had his parents, and he didn't speak a word of German. On the one hand as an American it was a little offensive (not like I'd lose sleep over it or anything), but more so just baffling as to why he took so much pride in a nation he had virtually no association with.
Im repeating an earlier post of mine regarding Melbourne , Australia being one of the most "Liveable" cities in the world. Well fuck Melbourne and ... fuck the urban sprawl and all the new supposedly "skilled" immigrants that have flooded in ... yeah , skilled at what ..driving fucking taxis ? fuck the "housing boom" and all associated with it , fuck the real estate agents and all property developers. fuck the incompetent , excuse making State Government and its leader John Brumby. fuck the public transport system , particularly the trains ... hang on , that's already fucked ! fuck the traffic. fuck the weather , four fucking seasons in one day. fuck all the foreign students that have flocked into our universities and colleges and fuck the universities and colleges for selling out to them. fuck the City of Melbourne and the fucking fucks that run the place. fuck the City of Melbourne parking. fuck the speed cameras , fuck the athorities that would have us believe that these save lives and fuck all those that pull in the millions each year from speeding fines.